Core member for coils



Nov. 23, 1954 L. cs. HORVATH CORE MEMBER FOR COILS illlllln.

INVENTOR. H0 7' 001%; BY

Filed Nov. 13, 1951 Jim 1614 jiczaG United States Patent M CORE MEMBERFOR COILS Lad G. Horvath, Chicago, 11]., assignor to Acme Steel Company,Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application November 13, 1951,Serial No. 256,053 3 Claims. (Cl. 242-68) This invention relates toimprovements in core members and means upon which coils of convolutedmaterial such as metal strapping and the like may be wound. Its purposeis to provide an inexpensive and easily assembled core member incombination with a drum about which metal strapping and similar productsmay be wound, the core preventing the inner strands of the coiledmaterial from becoming loosened or entangled after the core and coilthereon have been removed from the drum, and during shipping, storageand subsequent unwinding of the coil.

Heretofore it has been common practice in the packaging of steelstrapping, wire and similar materials to wind the finished material intocoils on substantially rigid core members. This practice in the case ofsteel strapping has been employed particularly in packagingcomparatively narrow strapping into coils having lateral dimensionsseveral times the width of the strapping itself. In such cases asubstantially rigid cylindrical core member has been slipped axiallyonto a driven Winding drum and a coil of the narrow strapping has beenformed by winding the material onto the core spirally in a manner suchthat a plurality of radially superimposed and laterally spacedconvolutions are built up on the core. When the coil has been wound toits desired size or weight, rotation of the winding drum has beenstopped, the strapping leading to the coil has been cut, and the coilwith its rigid core member has been pulled or slipped off of the windingdrum. Thereafter straps or the like have been drawn laterally around thecoil and the rigid core member at a plurality of points to secure theouter convolutions of the strapping against relative displacement, therigid core member itself acting to prevent the inner convolutions frombecoming loosened or entangled. The rigid or substantially rigid coremembers of the kind just referred to have usually been made of wood orsteel and they have provided very firm foundations upon which to windcoils. Their use, however, has been expensive and troublesome in certainrespects. The material from which the rigid core members are constructedis expensive and often in short supply, and their fabrication inquantity has required the use of relatively expensive machinery and asubstantial amount of storage space for completed cores awaiting use.The use of such core members also has added materially to the shippingweight of finished coils of material and has created a disposal problemfor those customers who consume large quantities of the coiled products.Manufacturers engaged in winding and forming coils upon rigid cores ofthe ordinary rigid cylindrical type have also found that the corescannot be depended upon to fit onto the Winding drums properly.Variations in the inner diameters of the prefabricated rigid cores,together with slight variations encountered in the outer diameters ofwinding drums, cause some rigid cores of a supposedly identical group toslip excessively on certain winding drums during the winding operation,while other cores of the same group will fit so tightly on other drumsthat their removal is difficult.

The present invention overcomes the several disadvantages referred toabove that are inherent in the rigid or semi-rigid core members thatheretofore have commonly been used for coils, and the invention has asone of its important objects the provision, in combination with awinding drum, of a very inexpensive flexible core member that may easilybe applied to the drum in a selfadjusting manner so as to fit snuglyabout the drum in 2,695,139 PatentedtNov. 23, 1954 spite of the factthat the diameter of the drum maynot be exact. Another object of theinvention is to provide an improved flexible core member that may bestored in a flat condition to conserve space until immediately prior toits use whereupon it may be quickly assembled manually about a windingdrum to receive convolutions of steel strapping, wire and similarmaterials and thereafter be easily removed from the drum with the coiledmaterial. A further object of the invention is to provide a core memberhaving the above characteristics, fabricated of paper material which isadapted to receive printed information and color andmay conveniently bedisposed of when the coiled material wrapped about the core has beenremoved.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a core member of the present invention in afiat condition prior to its assembly;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the manner in which the core membermay be assembled by wrapping the same about a winding drum;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation showing the core member inassembled condition on the winding drum, with an end of a length ofsteel strapping or the like secured or anchored to the drum and coremember preparatory to winding the strapping about the core member;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on the line 4--4 inFig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one form of a complete coil embodyingthe core member of the present invention.

The core member illustrated in the drawing comprises a longitudinalstrip 10 of flexible sheet material, such as heavy paper, cardboard orpaper-board, having opposite end portions 11 and 12 which, if desired,may be of reduced width as best shown in Fig. 1. An oblong hole oropening 13 is provided centrally through the body of the end portion 11close to its extremity 11a, the greater dimension of the openingextending laterally of the strip 10. Longitudinally inwardly from theopening 13, and on one side of the end portion 11, is an adhesivesurface 14 that extends laterally across the end portion from edge toedge. A corresponding adhesive surface is provided on the opposite sideof the strip 10 on the end portion 12 close to its extremity 12a, and anoblong hole or opening 16 corresponding in size and shape to the opening13 is provided through the body of the end portion 12 longitudinallyinwardly from the adhesive surface 15. These adhesive surfaces eachcomprise a coating of adhesive material applied directly to the strip10, the coating preferably being one of the conventional dry surfaceadhesive materials, such as rubber in solution in benzole (CsHs). Suchadhesive coatings have the property that, after drying, they willpreferentially adhere to each other. That is, they will adhere stronglyto each other when brought together without being moistened or otherwisefurther treated, but will not adhere under normal conditions to uncoatedparts.

It will readily be understood that the core member just described may beinexpensively manufactured in large quantities, printed or colored asdesired, and stored until needed in a disassembled and flat condition instacks that will occupy a minimum of storage space.

When it is desired to form a coil around one of the flexible coremembers, the member is assembled at the time of its use by being wrappedsnugly around the outer surface of a cylindrical winding drum 17, withthe end portion 12 of the strip 10 overlapping the end portion 11thereof to bring the adhesive surfaces 14 and 15 into engagement and tobring the openings 13 and 16 substantially into alignment one above theother over an open-end slot 18 provided laterally in the body of thedrum 17. During this assembly operation the flexible core member may beindexed as to its lateral position on the winding drum by engagement ofone of its lateral edges with a radial flange 19 provided on the innerend of the drum. When the core member has been thus assem'bled, theadhesive surfaces 14 and 15 adhere to secure the overlapped ends of thestrip 10 together, and the superimposed openings 13 and 16 provide asingle aperture through the assembled core member to receive an end ofthe strapping or other material to be wrapped about the core. The coremember, in being wrapped around the winding drum during its assembly,adjusts itself to the diameter of the drum. Consequently, the coremember of the present invention may be snugly applied to drums that varyin diameter, the dimensions of the openings 13 and 16 in the memberbeing sutriciently large that even when the openings are somewhatoff-set with respect to each other, as illustrated in Fig. 3, theopenings will still provide an aperture of sufficient size to receive anend of the material to be wrapped onto the core member.

Figs. 3 and 4 show in detail the manner in which an end 20a of a lengthof comparatively narrow steel strapping 20 may be secured to theassembled core member and drum 17 preparatory to winding the strappingonto the core. The end 20a of the strapping is passed radially inwardlythrough the aperture provided by the openings 13 and 16 in the coremember and through the slot 18 in the drum 17 and is then bent overagainst the inner surface of the drum, as best illustrated in Fig. 4.The drum and the core thereon are then rotated (by means not shown) andthe strapping 20 may be 'fed onto the core spirally to build up a coilcomprising a plurality of radially superimposed spiral layers of thestrapping disposed in side by side position about the core. When thecoil has been built up to a desired diameter or weight, rotation of thedrum is stopped, the strapping 20 leading to the coil is cut, and thecore member 10, with the coil thereon, is slipped axially off the drum,the end 20a of the strapping sliding out the open end of the slot 18 inthe drum 17. The end 20a of the strapping is then pressed outwardlyagainst the inner surface of the core member, the overlapping ends ofthe core member serving to reinforce and prevent the end of thestrapping from tearing the core member in the area around the openings13 and 16 therein. Bending straps 21 may at the same time be appliedlaterally around the coil and core at several points, as illustrated inFig. 5, to prevent the outer convolutions of the strapping 20 frombecoming loosened or displaced. The core member itself serves to preventthe inner convolutions from becoming loosened or entangled.

Although one form of the invention has been shown and described by wayof illustration, it will be understood that the invention may beconstructed in other embodiments that come within the scope and spiritof the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A core member for a coil comprising, a strip of flexible papermaterial having holes through the body thereof adjacent each of itsopposite ends, an adhesive surface on one side of said strip adjacent afirst one of said ends and between that end and said adjacent hole, anda second adhesive surface on the opposite side of said strip adjacentthe second one of said ends with said other hole between said second endand said second adhesive surface, said ends of said strip being movableinto engagement in overlapping position with said adhesive surfaces incontact with each other and with said holes in substantial alignment oneabove the other to provide a single aperture for receiving an end ofsaid coil with said second end on the inner side of the core.

2. Means for winding a coil of convoluted material comprising, acylindrical winding drum having an elongated slot in the peripheralsurface thereof extending inwardly from one end of thedrum, and a corememher on said drum comprised essentially of a single strip of paperWrapped around said drum with its end portions overlapped and adhesivelysecured together, said end portions having registered openings thereinone above the other over said slot to provide a single aperture forreceiving an end of the material to be wound.

3. Means for winding a coil of convoluted material comprising, acylindrical winding drum having a radially extending annular flange onone of its ends and an open end elongated slot extending inwardly fromits opposite end, and a core member on said drum comprised essentiallyof a single strip of paper wrapped around said drum with a lateral edgeof said strip abutting said flange and with the end portions of saidstrip overlapped and adhesively secured together, said end portions ofsaid strip having registered openings therein one above the other oversaid slot to provide a single aperture for receiving an end of thematerial to be wound.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 244,591 Gritlin July 19, 1881 972,667 Wheeler Oct. 11, 19102,000,763 Line May 7, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 629,254France July 19, 1927

